Inuyasha Manga: 300 The Opened Gateway

The big three-zero-zero! We're a bit past the halfway point for this manga, but this is the moment I really FEEL that I'm over the hump. It's a little bit of a mean way to put that, especially because I am thoroughly enjoying myself rereading one of my favorite stories, but it's undeniable that the thing is being stretched at this point. This blog is already going on nine years and I'm afraid I'm going to need another nine years after that to get to the end of it! Dammit Inuyasha, why did you have to be popular enough that publishers and editors kept pushing for you to extend beyond a natural expiration date?

Must be how pretty you are. Impressive color on the opening of this one for the milestone.

When Mr. Ponytail deadpans that Inuyasha should become one of the dead by his and Mr. Man-bun's hands, Inuyasha scoffs that these guys are simpletons who have only one idea in their dense rock brains. He leaps up and out of the way of another blow from a spear, and while Mr. Ponytail is still bent over from lunging for the stab, Inuyasha jumps down on his neck, Tessaiga raised over his head. He brings it down on Mr. Ponytail's back, but the sword just sings and vibrates from the violent contact, and Inuyasha silently curses, complaining that the stone man didn't even chip.

Mr. Man-bun's crescent spear speeds at him out of his periphery.

Don't you just LOVE it when getting your ass kicked is a spectator sport?

Mr. Ponytail is upright again, and says they told him before, setting it up for Mr. Man-bun to repeat that they cannot be cut by weapons of the living world. Louder for the ones in the back, please! Meanwhile, Inuyasha's still getting pressed into the rock wall behind him, the only thing keeping him from getting sliced in half by the crescent spear being the width of Tessaiga. Very concerning. He groans out a curse.

Miroku is already standing ahead of the rest of the gang and ripping the beads off his Kazaana, suggesting this might work where a sword won't.

Not a half-bad idea, I guess. But mostly what Miroku gets are the stone skulls and other rocks lying strewn in the cave, and Gozu and Mezu look around at him with a kind of annoyed glare as he struggles to vacuum everything AROUND them up. Mr. Ponytail turns and thrusts his spear down at Miroku, who has to leap back to avoid it, stumbling but still holding out his Kazaana. Mr. Ponytail asks Miroku is HE wants to pass the gateway as well, not looking the least bothered by the force sucking in the rest of the cave's contents. The girls and Shippou are in shocked disbelief that the Kazaana isn't working either, because it's track record has never been... disappointing at all, lol. 

While the power of Miroku's Kazaana pulls at him from behind Mr. Man-bun's crescent blade, he seems to get an epiphany, and encourages Miroku to keep the Kazaana open just like he has it, pushing off from the wall with his feet. 

Mr. Ponytail's going down again, face first. Miroku wraps the sealing beads back around his fist to close up the Kazaana, AGAIN wondering if the giant stone man impervious to harm from mortal weapons has been got. Dude, have you been paying NO attention this whole time??? Kagome runs forward now that the Kazaana is closed, yelling Inuyasha's name in concern. Inuyasha admits that he just knocked Mr. Ponytail down, and cringes backward when a giant elbow raises and Mr. Ponytail starts to push himself back up. Inuyasha sweatdrops over the fact that he can't even do much damage using the force of the Kazaana. 

Myouga hops back onto Inuyasha's shoulder, calling his name, and Inuyasha expresses some more surprise that Myouga hasn't already disappeared from this dangerous situation yet. Myouga brushes past the insult to his character (as a genuine coward, mind you), and tells him in no uncertain terms that he has to return Gozu and Mezu to their inanimate states, which will only happen once the gate has opened and closed again. He says it's a long shot, but...

But why would it not ALSO be impervious to tools from the mortal world? Seems like that would be a MASSIVE oversight...

With this hot tip dropped, Myouga hops in the opposite direction, calling in his wake that he's off for sure now, Inuyasha and Miroku looking over their shoulders at him with minimal exasperation. Running is, after all, what Myouga does, so when Miroku points out this fact, there's no amazement or disbelief attached to it. 

Meanwhile, Gozu and Mezu are stomping towards them once again, slow but steady. Inuyasha admits Myouga is right, and that breaking the chain across the closed gate seems like the best course of action, and it would be killing two birds with one stone. Or, two stones with one... sword aimed at an entirely different target? Doesn't translate well.

Tessaiga pulses and changes color - Inuyasha calling for the barrier-breaking RED Tessaiga to help him out with this. He swings with a yell, aiming right between the oncoming moving statues, and the attack strikes the rattling chains on the door in crackling energetic conflict. 

Inuyasha barely has enough time to marvel at the fact that he performed this feat with somewhat low effort when he has to leap out of the way of a couple crescent wind blades aimed at him. That's right, our girl Kagura is flying in with an army of minor youkai, congratulating Inuyasha on his nice work and declaring she's going in ahead of him. Inuyasha barks at her in a rage, demanding this bitch fucking WAIT. Inuyasha will NOT tolerate doing all the work and having someone else reap the benefits, even though it was pretty obvious this was where all this was heading. 

As the demon horde approaches the newly unchained doors, they begin to glow. Suspiciously.

Yeah, this is probz a bad sign.

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? I love that Hakudoushi's plan was to literally race Inuyasha and company to the open door, lol! This is the level of evil genius we're dealing with here, and it's glorious in the most underwhelming way. Speaking of underwhelming genius, I do find the solution to getting Gozu and Mezu to stop attacking a little on the contrived side. On its face it seems somewhat clever, until you start to wonder with the chain across the doors wouldn't ALSO be impervious to mortal weapons. It just strikes me as odd that the chain is... a regular chain, especially when we know that there are youkai who can create enchanted items that can entirely bypass Gozu and Mezu in the first place. What use ARE Gozu and Mezu if it's this easy to just trick them into turning to stone again??

But it's pretty funny that Myouga hung around in the midst of danger JUST long enough to give Inuyasha this sweet hack for opening the door, and THEN bailed. I can't tell if he's capable of actually being brave enough to stick out the whole battle and is trolling Inuyasha and crew, or if he's magically compelled to give out advice to Inuyasha as a condition of being a vassal and HAS to stay until he can be of some use. I feel like if he COULD have left before he was helpful he WOULD have, given how he's been characterized thus far, so I'm leaning toward the latter, but either way is a little amusing. If he actually can resist the urge to run and just doesn't, that could be interpreted as a SAVAGE insult, lol.

And Miroku's Kazaana continuing to be more toothless than you would THINK it could so our heroes don't fuck up the line between life and death too badly. Writing that level of order disruption would probably require a bit more world-building than RT can commit to.

Inuyasha Manga: 299 Guards of the Gateway

Great, can't wait for the pop quiz on the landscape and inner workings of the borderlands between two worlds. If these gatekeepers are anything like the ones I've had to deal with, they'll be asking anyone looking to get through who the ten millionth youkai to come through was, and where all the hidden easter eggs are in the skeleton campaign. All in a condescending tone, too. And the moment Inuyasha questions what the point of all this checking and re-checking his credentials for belonging are, the guards will inevitably start browbeating him about how he's not a REAL dedicated visitor of the graveyard or some such junk. 

Inuyasha and crew has my highest empathy in this one; the number of gatekeeping assholes I've had to interact with in this very fandom alone is ASTOUNDING. 

Ah, has RT remembered Inuyasha has a super nose again? I feel lucky today!

Sango notes nervously that there are Saimyoushou flying in their periphery, and Inuyasha scoffs that he's betting they're there to make sure they make it to that fire country they're heading towards. Miroku says they seem to be guiding them to the gateway to the borderline between this world and the next, judging by how they're acting. You know, being behind and off to the side of them and all. That's definitely how you LEAD people where you want them to go and everything. Then again, they could be herding our protagonists like cattle to the slaughterhouse. Either way, Kagome agrees with Miroku, but she's wondering if the reason Hakudoushi went out of his way to invite Inuyasha to the gateway means that his power isn't enough to get through himself. 

I don't know, I think I'd bet on my "herding to the slaughterhouse" interpretation.

Once the group reaches a cluster of what looks like fuming volcanoes, the Saimyoushou appear to have taken the lead they need to, and are diving down over a particular crater vent. Sango says they're heading down, but I hope it's not INTO that volcano. Not really sure how they'd be able to stand the heat of that one. Thankfully, the wasps coast over a flat, craggy landscape beyond that.

Inuyasha and crew follow them under this overhang on foot, Inuyasha and Miroku peering down into a crack that the Saimyoushou disappeared down into. Miroku trails in the assessment that they're meant to go underground, and Inuyasha observes that it sure looks like an entrance to a grave. Well, isn't that where you're SUPPOSED to be headed, genius?

A VERTICAL narrow blank transition panel, just to switch it up a bit, I suppose. Hakudoushi sits on the end of a rocky cliff, raising his arm to greet a Saimyoushou that could rival his own size, Kagura standing behind him at a distance. The giant wasp hovers over his arm as he turns to Kagura and tells her that Inuyasha's party has safely reached the entrance to the gateway. Kagura asks if he's SURE about letting them go ahead, because there's supposed to be a Sikon shard on the other side of it and all. Hakudoushi assures her that HE'LL be the one to snag that fragment first, of course, but he's clearly enjoying holding his superior knowledge of the situation over her head, so doesn't explain how that's supposed to happen. 

But Hakudoushi DOES say he has work for her to do for that end. Kagura comments on how much he's like Naraku, getting the best bits for himself in the end, and he just kind of smirks about it. 

Well how do you think your massive DAD got through there?

Wait, that sounded... Just get your mind out of the gutter, okay?? There's not enough room for both of us down here!

Shippou stutters out Kagome's name, looking with worry down from her back. She asks him what it is, and he points out that the rocks on the ground look like youkai faces/heads. She affirms his concerning observation, and adds that these strange rocks seem to be getting all the more numerous the farther they get into the cave. Inuyasha suggests they're just part of the path, like paving to indicate the way, which is... a generous interpretation, if I'm being nice.

He declares they've arrived.

This is somewhat ominous.

A view of the chained doors is shown, as well as a close-up of the left-hand giant statue. Miroku is in awe of the scene, trailing in a no doubt inadequate statement about what it is. Kagome is just expressing amazement at the fact that it's a literal gateway they found here. Inuyasha scoffs while drawing Tessaiga, sarcastically talking about how nice it is that this is an easy, straightforward task, with not ONE guard of the place to get in his way. Holding Tessaiga out in front of him, he tells everyone to stand back, planning to break down the door with Kaze no Kizu. 

A voice out of the ether asks if he wants to pass. Inuyasha's friends are surprised, Shippou stuttering in disbelief that there's someone there. 

Sounds like a trick question to me.

Myouga insists that Inuyasha NOT answer this question, jumping up and down on Inuyasha's shoulder in agitation while Inuyasha says his name in disbelief. From Kagome's shoulder, Shippou expresses amazement that Myouga came with them at all, Kagome admitting that she thought he was LONG GONE by now. The shade they are throwing is FIERCE. Myouga ignores it, though, and declares they're all running away now, telling Inuyasha that it's not too late for them to retreat specifically. Inuyasha scoffs that Myouga MUST be dreaming. 

Again, the question of whether they want to pass or do NOT want to pass is repeated. Inuyasha blurts that OF COURSE they want to pass, that being the whole reason they came all this way. The voice cordially invites him to TRY to pass, then, and left-hand statue's eyes suddenly come to life, swiveling over to lock onto the intruding group. Kagome and Shippou cringe, the former only getting out a terrified half-statement about the statue's newly revealed sight. A pair of cracking stone feet are shown to start pulling away from their posts at the side of the door. 

Thanks to our translator for the little note on the bottom of the page, although I'm not sure it matters much which statue is which. All I really care about here is the fact that Inuyasha's response to them becoming fully animated is hilariously lackluster. His face says pure astonishment, but his words say, "huh, what do you know?" LOL!

Mr. Man-bun says that this is a door where only the dead may pass, and Mr. Ponytail follows up with the statement that those who wish to pass will be killed by them so their state of being is all right and proper and all that. Not too far off from the figurative gatekeeping I was talking about before after all. Sango and Miroku appear quite perturbed by this news, but Inuyasha just lets out another signature scoff. He says he knows why that brat Hakudoushi invited them there now, if the gate guards have to be dead for them to pass. Haha, Inuyasha, buddy, I don't think you've really understood what's being proposed here. 

To start, how do you think you're going to kill a couple of STONES???

In his eagerness or ignorance, he lunges toward the giant statues with Tessaiga drawn and raised over his shoulder, saying he has no intention of withdrawing from the fight he's started. Both statues jab at him with their spears, and he easily dodges the points as they pierce the ground where he stood. Inuyasha evaluates their movements sluggish from those huge bodies, so he seems pretty confident that he's got the upper hand here. 

Something tells me that's not going to be enough... Though Miroku and the others definitely dare to suggest otherwise out of pure hope. 

But the smoke clears to show the door isn't open, and the statues get back to their feet again, damn near unscratched. Inuyasha is in disbelief that Kaze no Kizu didn't work. Mr. Ponytail tells him that it's futile, because they can't be slain by a weapon from the living world, which elicits a groan from Inuyasha, gritting his teeth in frustration. Miroku repeats the phrase they used about their inability to die by a weapon of this world in the form of a question, and Myouga, who has hopped on over to Kagome now, explains that it's because Gozu and Mezu aren't from this world, and Tessaiga is a weapon to mow down the youkai from their current LIVING world. Kagome stutters as she asks HOW these guys can be defeated then, Myouga answering that Gozu and Mezu don't stop moving until the gateway to the graveyard has been opened and closed again, so...

Oh, I GET IT! Do you want to pass? As in, AWAY? 

It took entirely too long for me to notice that wordplay. Yikes.

Inuyasha hasn't picked up on it either, and internally curses, complaining that there's no point in him passing unless he's alive. Back outside the gateway chamber, past the smoking mountains of the fire country, Hakudoushi is still lounging and drawling at Kagura standing her comfortable distance behind him. He says that to pass the gateway between the worlds, one must fight the guards Gozu and Mezu, which Inuyasha is fighting in his place about now. 

The way most everybody gets through there, no doubt.

So, what did I think of this chapter overall? The designs for Gozu and Mezu are interesting, and the design of their armor is keeping me guessing. I'm wondering what those almond and circle shapes are inlaid into them - are they supposed to be ethereal eyes or gems or something? And the wavy, undulating way it goes over one half of their torso leaving the other side bare is a strange aesthetic to display. They don't really need armor, considering they are impervious to any weapons that are from the living world, so it has to be purely decorative anyway, but I'm not able to discern what significance the decoration has, if any. 

Also, the toga-like one-shoulder pauldron is reminding me a little of Sesshoumaru, but I can't say I'm much surprised by that. Seems like a kind of obvious visual link.

Giant moving statues trying to kill the protagonists always being legitimately spooky aside, it is a very awful predicament Inuyasha has gotten himself and his companions into. This isn't an enemy he can just hit with its sword until it stops moving. They essentially just keep coming at him until HE stops moving. A very unstoppable force meets unmovable object kind of problem. This will require some creative thinking here, so RT might have to set aside her characterization of Inuyasha as a nitwit to help move along the situation, if she's not planning on giving that job to Miroku, who's become a bit dumb lately too. 

But to be honest, it's been a while since I've read this arc, I don't really remember what happened... Probably a good thing.